Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate that demand for the grants has been consistently high, which is testament to their success since first being introduced in 2007. With 136,000 grants given up to the end of 2022, a lot of people are being helped. There is no doubt there are significant challenges, as Deputy McAuliffe said, brought about largely by increased demand, with an ageing population, and the additional costs being placed on labour and materials. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is committed to ensuring the review will bring about changes that are necessary to these important grant schemes, and to the ongoing discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform around the funding element. The numbers Deputy McAuliffe provided are very high. It is critically important that there is sufficient support for the local authorities to deliver them. He made some good suggestions and it might be useful to take them forward to the joint housing committee, of which he is a member, for a broader discussion. It is a busy committee but it might be worthwhile to have a deeper dive into the issues and to tweak these hugely important schemes to ensure we get them right and they are fit for purpose to meet the demands of the very vulnerable people who need them the most.

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